Lawmakers accuse Snowden of being Russian spy

Two of the top lawmakers within the United States intelligence community say that Congress is now considering whether any officials in the Russian government have influenced the actions of US National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Snowden, 30, has been
in the Moscow area since last June when he became stranded there
during a layover from Hong Kong after US authorities revoked his
American passport. Seven months later, though, the heads of the
United States House and Senate Intelligence Committees now claim
that the former NSA contractor could very well be linked to the
Russian government.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein
(D-California) — chairpersons of the House and Senate committees,
respectively — each opined as to a secret Snowden-Russia
relationship during appearances on the political talk show
circuit this weekend.

Speaking on the CBS Program Face the Nation, Rep. Rogers
suggested that a foreign nation state would more than likely have
had a large role in influencing the type of intelligence
taken by Mr. Snowden.

"When you look at the totality of the information he took,
the vast majority of it had to do with military, tactical and
operational events happening around the world," he told the
news program.

When Rogers caught up with Meet the Press host David Gregory at
NBC News’ Washington, DC studios this weekend, he more explicitly
implied that Russian’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, has had
more than just a minor role with regards to Mr. Snowden’s
activities.

"I believe there's a reason he ended up in the hands - the
loving arms - of an FSB agent in Moscow,” Rep. Rogers said
during a Meet the Press appearance that aired on Sunday “I
don't think that's a coincidence," he said.

Asked during that same program if she thinks Snowden has been
working on behalf of the Russians, Sen. Feinstein responded,
“He may well have.”

"We don't know at this stage," Feinstein said.

According to the
Huffington Post, both Rogers and Feinstein admitted to being
involved in investigations tasked with examining into that
possibility.

As far as other senior officials are concerned, though, there
isn’t any clear connection between Snowden and Russia just yet,
aside from the fact, of course, that the former NSA contractor’s
fate for the time being rests in the hands of Moscow officials.
Russia Federal Migration service approved
Mr. Snowden’s request for temporary asylum last August, and he is
at this point free to roam the country through at least July 31,
2014. At that point, he may again have to appeal to the Russian
government for assistance.

Senior US officials haven’t found evidence of any sort of link
just yet, according to
Reuters. The news outlet reported on Sunday that unnamed
officials claimed just days earlier that the US “has no
evidence at all that Snowden had any confederates who assisted
him or guided him about what NSA materials to hack or how to do
so.”

"There's a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have
received any documents," Mr. Snowden himself said during an
interview with the New York Times back in October.

Meanwhile, however, the recent remarks courtesy of Rep. Rogers
and Sen. Feinstein — two of the most adamant critics in Congress
when it comes to Snowden’s actions — could lend other lawmakers
to consider some sort of Russian connection that up until now has
been undiscoverable.

Even before the chairpersons’ remarks were broadcast to the
world, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) was on the ABC program This
Week to weigh the Snowden saga.

“I don't think…Mr. Snowden woke up one day and had the
wherewithal to do this all by himself. I think he was helped by
others,” the lawmaker said.

“I personally believe that he was cultivated by a foreign
power to do what he did. And he -- I would submit, again, that
he's not a hero by any stretch. He's a traitor. He — he lives not
very far down the street from where I am right now, enjoying
probably less freedoms today here in Russia than he had in the
United States of America,” McCaul continued.

Asked by This Week host George Stephanopoulos if he specifically
though the Russians had helped Snowden through his ordeal, McCaul
responded, “You know, to say definitely, I can’t — I can’t
answer that.”